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He’s a die-hard rugby union fan, but the sport, sadly, isn’t much practised where Leigh Watkins lives, in the small regional town of St Arnaud in western Victoria.
St Arnaud has AFL, netball, golf and even hockey teams but the only local signs of the game Watkins loves are the posters and jerseys he has hung in the pub he owns, the Farmer’s Arms. “There’s no rugby around here,” confirms St Arnaud Football club spokesman Jason Smith.
Publican Leigh Watkins, originally from Wales, pictured at his pub the Farmer’s Arms Hotel in St Arnaud, western Victoria.
By contrast, rugby is ubiquitous in Watkins’ hometown of Pontypridd, in South Wales; it’s a social as well as athletic pursuit, akin to a religion. “It’s our national sport in Wales. In the same way that religion brings a community together, so does rugby,” Watkins said.
Watkins gets homesick, so he can’t wait to support the British and Irish Lions rugby union team at the MCG on Saturday, playing against Australia’s Wallabies, with a crowd Rugby Australia expects to reach more than 90,000.
According to the state government’s tourism arm, Visit Victoria, more than 40,000 Lions fans are expected to come to Melbourne and the tour is expected to inject more than $90 million into the Victorian economy.
Visit Victoria CEO Brendan McClements said it would provide a huge boost for Victorian businesses, and the Australian Hotels Association predicts Lions fans will make about 180,000 pub visits while in Melbourne.
Lions fans Morgan Lloyd, Leigh Watkins, Kevin Lloyd and Kevin Adams, at The Barracks in Brisbane.Credit: Russell Shakespeare
McClements said Melbourne was ready to be a “home-away-from-home” for travelling fans.
“They’re coming for the full Melbourne experience – renowned hospitality, culture, iconic attractions, and a vibrant sporting atmosphere.”
For many fans, the Lions’ first Australian tour in 12 years is the catalyst to sight-see and reunite with relatives.
Joining Watkins at the MCG will be his uncle Kevin Adams, cousin Kevin Lloyd and godson Morgan Lloyd, 15, who are visiting from Wales.
Leigh Watkins and his family supported the Lions in Brisbane on Saturday.Credit: Russell Shakespeare
It will be the first holiday since Christmas for Watkins, who, as a publican, works seven days a week.
The quartet will reserve extra cheers for the Lions’ only Welsh player, Jac Morgan.
They won’t need much persuasion to gather with fellow spectators and sing the Welsh national anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of My Fathers).
“Crowd singing is part of our Welsh heritage,” said Watkins, who pointed to a YouTube clip of a stirring mass rendition of the anthem before a 2013 Wales versus England match in Cardiff.
Saturday’s MCG match against the Wallabies and this Tuesday’s game against a First Nations and Pasifika team at Marvel Stadium are the Lions’ first matches in Melbourne since 2013. Lions matches during this tour are being aired live on Channel 9 (Nine is the owner of this masthead).
The Lions team, which was first formed in 1888, includes top players from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
In 2001, its name was changed from the British Lions to the British and Irish Lions. It “doesn’t roll off the tongue” says Irish-born fan Dave Dillon, but he says the team is usually just called “Lions”.
Dillon, from Wellington in New Zealand, will go to the MCG match with three of his brothers — Barry, from Kildare in Ireland, and Liam and Neil, now of Cape Cod, in the US.
“The games are great, but I’m looking forward to going for a pint with my brothers, and hanging out,” Dave said.
Dillon says there’s nothing like watching the best players, in an electric atmosphere at a big match.
“The craic and the banter is brilliant,” he said.
“Everybody’s having a laugh, you’re singing songs, you’re making fun of each other,” Dillon says. “It’s always good-humoured.”
Rebecca Grice, a Lions fan visiting from Lincolnshire, England, is going to the MCG test with her friend Georgia King, a Wallabies supporter from Sydney.
Friendly rivalry: Rebecca Grice, left, supports British and Irish Lions while close friend Georgia King is a Wallabies fan.Credit: Max Mason-Hubers
They’ve been close since being pen pals as 11 years olds, 20 years ago.
Grice, who played rugby union for nine years, and who supports Leicester Tigers, recently converted King, and King’s four-year-old son, to the sport.
“Her enthusiasm is very contagious,” King said. “Rebecca knows every player. She can answer every question.”
Grice is a big fan of Lions player Ollie Chessum, who is from Lincolnshire, like her.
Rebecca Grice, right, with Georgia King, centre and King’s nan, Jill Wilkinson, left, at the Lions versus NSW Waratahs game at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on July 5.
On July 5, Grice, King and King’s nan, Jill Wilkinson, watched the NSW Waratahs rugby union team play the Lions at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium.
“The atmosphere was so great. I loved it,” said King.
Earlier that day, in Sydney’s George Street, Grice spotted Chessum and four other Lions players, and rushed up to take a selfie with them. “It was very exciting,” Grice says.
British and Irish Lions fan Rebecca Grice, in a selfie taken on July 5 with five Lions players she ran into in George Street, Sydney. (Clockwise from left) Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Beirne, Ollie Chessum, Jack Conan, and Tadhg Furlong holding the camera.
“But I was so nervous and all I could think to say to them was: ‘Are you having a good day off?’ And they were playing that night! I’m mortified by that!
“One day I hope I’ll meet them again and actually have a conversation with them.”
While Grice has travelled to Paris, Wales, Ireland and Twickenham in England to watch England play, she will watch her first live Lions match at the MCG.
King and Grice along with King’s husband and father-in-law will drive to Melbourne from Sydney, and stay with King’s relatives.
On Saturday, they will get to the MCG early to “soak in the atmosphere”, Grice said. “I’m so excited.”
Lions games are held every four years in different countries.
“And that’s what makes this so special. It’s an occasion that brings everyone together, to experience something that you might never get to experience again.”
King says Grice has been raving about the event for years.
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